Bittersweet Beginnings
by BlackisnotEMO
Summary: A short oneshot on how Lili met Asuka and how the inevitable rivalry between the two teenagers began.


Author's note:

Constructive criticism is allowed but strictly no flames please. Thank you.

Translations are in **Bold**.

Steel blue eyes bearing a faint tenor of a high confidence and arrogance pierced across the contrasting surroundings carelessly, said eyes narrowing in slight impatience of having to wait for her next opponent to arrive.

"I can already taste the invigorating tang of victory," Emilie _de _Rochefort had a smile graced upon her delicate features, knowing that she could take down any opponent thrown to her within the blink of an eye.

This particular street tournament was that simple.

The blonde Monaco-born heaved a tiny sigh, feeling a little disappointed that she had yet to break a sweat even after winning seven matches back-to-back. She made a mental note to notify Sebastian to _never_ again sign her up for this little tournament for mere _rookies_; she was certainly much better than that.

"Oh well, I might as well make the best out of it," she shrugged lightly; this being the last tournament she was able to partake in before a new school semester begun. The private jet would be off-limits by then, plus there weren't many street tournaments available in her hometown. She sighed again, knowing that long months of boredom awaited her the moment she stepped out of the arena.

All of a sudden, a smooth velvety voice unlike any Lili had heard before cut across the damp musty air, alerting the aristocrat to a foreign presence while snapping her out of her thoughts.

"_You're_ my next opponent?" a heavily accented Japanese speaker mocked in disbelief, half-expecting to face-off with some sort of huge nasty brute seeing that she had reached a crucial stage of the tournament. The sight of the petite blonde standing in the middle of the arena was a definite surprise to the Osaka-born teenager.

"I'll make you swallow your derision the moment I knock you out," Lili was thankful then that her father had made her learnt various languages when she was a little girl, making her opponent's gibberish sound a little more understandable.

"_E? Nani te iu no ka?_ _Wakaranai_," her opponent did not seem to understand English based on the confused gist she had in her tone.

**Nani te iu no ka – What did you say? **

**Wakaranai – I don't understand.**

Before Lili could reply to her question, the bell sounded to indicate the start of their match. The young Rochefort got into her usual fighting stance, scrutinizing the shadows carefully for any sign of her opponent's movements. Her Japanese opponent had been hidden in the dark contour of the arena since the very moment Lili had heard her voice, making it easier for her to launch a surprise attack.

That moment surged pass before she could even register what had actually happened.

Lili felt the wind rushing out of her lungs as she took a heavy blow directly in the stomach, the huge impact forcing her backwards on her heels. Before she could balance herself to make a recovery, swift punches contacted her torso, sending the latter airborne and completely defenceless. Everything ended when a powerful lower limb smashed her mercilessly onto the rugged tarred road below, sending her muscles screaming in pain at the mere force inflicted upon them as soon as gravity took action.

The blonde princess groaned slightly in pain, biting hard on her lower lip to prevent herself from crying out in response to the agony her body felt at that moment. She still had her pride, and no way in hell was she allowing this person to indulge in her torment.

"_Maa- Anata yowai wa…_" she froze as a small shadow over loomed her slumped figure, the previous mocking tone being replaced with one of disappointment at the one-sided battle.

**Anata yowai wa – You're weak. **

Lili was still panting heavily from the lethal attack unleashed upon her moments ago, angry blue eyes watching on in shame as her opponent crouched down beside her to give her unmoving body a little shove.

The aristocrat's fists tightened subconsciously at the heartfelt insult, mentally screaming for her stubborn body get up to return that cocky teenage brat her favour.

"_Yappari… _I knew that you couldn't possibly be _that_ tough. You must've used your girlish charms to distract those _hentai otoko_ and win, huh? Well, it's too bad that you were up against a girl this round," she guessed aloud in her mother tongue, standing up to brush imaginary dust off her shorts.

**Yappari – I thought so.**

**Hentai otoko – perverted men**

"_Jaa_- I have a trophy to win now," she made her leave without even looking back, dismissing her opponent with a heedless wave of the hand before disappearing into the shadows once more.

**Jaa – See 'ya later.**

"_AARGHHHH!"_

Emilie _de _Rochefort yelled in seething frustration at her utterly humiliating defeat as soon as her opponent was out of sight, proceeding to push herself up shakily from her disgraceful position on the ground.

Steel blue eyes were darkened in obvious rage as the image of the conceited Japanese girl flooded her mind; memory of the previous battle rushing back to her and triggering her fury bit by bit like a new poison. Lili had never felt _this_ angry in all her life. Not only did this unknown person knock her out within only seconds, she actually had the gall to base all her victories on her looks!

However, those were not the foremost reasons to why she hated the girl at that moment.

It was because of her eyes.

Those fawn brown eyes held the pages to her every expression.

Lili could see her confidence. Her arrogance. Her _scorn_.

All those emotions were reflected clearly from the latter's eyes to hers for those few minutes, and strangely enough, Lili could easily read them all. She felt annoyed, discontented, and wholly humiliated to be looked down upon like that. This sort of treatment towards her was new to her, and she did not like it. Especially when she knew that she did not deserve it.

"I'll make you pay. I swear I'll get my revenge on you, you-" she paused in midsentence, only realising then that she did not know the name of her newfound _rival_.

Yes, Lili liked the sound of that new term.

She had finally found someone who _might_ be able to withstand her array of attacks in the future.

Sebastian came running with a doctor alongside him, obviously worried for his mistress in her current battered condition.

"Are you alright, Lili?" concern was laced in his voice as he spoke, gesturing for the doctor to heal her at once.

"I'm fine, Sebastian. Now, there's a little something I would like you to do for me…"

Aging grey eyes widened slightly in surprise at the newfound spark embedded in the teenager's eyes, wondering what on earth had happened in the arena for her to look this… _happy_.

"Of course, anything for you, young mistress," he smiled a quiet smile at her jovial response to his answer as she immediately named her request.

It was from that moment on that Lili had a new mission to accomplish within the new school semester ahead, allowing her to escape the boredom that was to come that upcoming month.

_I will hunt you down._

**-End-**

p.s. I'm sorry if my Japanese sentence structures are off, I'm quite new to the language but I'm learning!

p.s.s. I'm leaving this as a one-shot for now, but should I make a story out of this? It'll be fun to write for sure, but I can't think of any plot. You can PM me a plot if you want, and I _**might**_ go along with it if it suits my taste. Well, whatever your replies are to this, I'm going on a hiatus now because I can.

_Mata aimashou, minna san! _


End file.
